Delia: ‘I wasn’t drunk’

Delia Smith started teaching the nation how to cook back in 1973 and has sold more than 19million books. Delia, 66, who is the majority shareholder in Norwich City football club, returns with a new series on Monday at 8.30pm on BBC2. The accompanying book, How To Cheat At Cooking, has caused controversy among some food critics.

What tempted you out of retirement?

I felt there was need to fill a gap in cooking. We’ve evolved into having newer, busier lifestyles and parents have to work and children come home from school and there needs to be a meal on the table – that market needed to be catered for in a more specific way.

Some reviewers are aghast that youâve said itâs OK to use frozen mashed potatoâ¦

All the ingredients I use in the book are quality ingredients. The frozen mash in question is made from potatoes grown in East Anglia. They have been boiled, mashed and frozen. There are only four ingredients â potatoes, milk, butter and salt â and itâs a quality product. Thereâs nothing nicer than doing the whole thing yourself, but this book is for days when you donât have time to cook from scratch. Iâm not worried about the flak â itâs because people havenât listened properly to what Iâve said.

Do you think the whole culinary world has become too snobbish?

Thereâs an element of that. Iâve tried to show there are lots of quality ingredients that can save you time in your cooking and enable you to get a meal on the table. Thatâs what itâs about for masses of people in this country. Most people arenât interested in Michelin stars, theyâre interested in getting a good meal on the table.

Does that sort of elitism bother you?

Itâs always been there, ever since I started to learn how to cook. Food lends itself to snobbery, just like wine or the arts. Iâm not knocking it, we need wonderful chefs and great restaurants for when weâve got a celebration, but we need that side-by-side with knowledge of how to eat well â both for busy people and people who are afraid to cook. This big cheffy revolution has made people afraid to cook.

Are you for or against battery chickens?

Iâm not for battery chickens at all. What I am for, is for people who live below the poverty line being aware of how to get first-class protein. Thereâs no use condemning battery chickens without giving people an alternative.

Do you think organic food is a fad?

Iâm just a humble cook. If I go into the shop, Iâll buy what I think looks best. If itâs some manky old cabbage with an organic sticker on it, Iâll leave it. Iâm not knocking the fact itâs there â people should be able to have a choice if they want organic or not â but thereâs an awful lot of confusion about diet. All Iâm interested in is people having good, square meals.

Youâve sold 19million books. What have you spent all the money on?

Football.

How is the team doing?

Itâs up and down. I donât think weâre in danger of being relegated like we were earlier in the season, but youâve just got to keep hoping to improve.

Do you have any plans to sell?

No. At the clubâs AGM, someone complained that I kept buying shares. I said the only reason I do that is to give the club money. If someone with loads of money wanted to come along and put the money in, then Iâd be happy to step aside. It went from that to stories appearing that I was selling the club. Iâm not. Iâm very happy with it.

What’s been your worst moment on TV?

I tried to crush a clove of garlic with the back of a knife but it flipped and the garlic hit the cameraman in the eye.

How competitive is the world of being a celebrity chef? Are you still feuding with Anthony Worrell Thomspon?

No, he’s lovely. I’ve never been a chef, I’m a cook, so I don’t think I qualify to be called a ‘celebrity chef’. I’d never do something like Delia’s Kitchen Nightmares. I don’t watch those shows, I’ve seen Hell’s Kitchen when Marco Pierre White did it but I don’t watch the rest of them. I’ve got nothing against entertainment programmes that involve food, that can only be a good thing.

The clip of you yelling: âLetâs be having you,â to encourage the teamâs fans attracted widespread attention. Were you hammered?

No, I wasnât, Iâm just very passionate. I just felt they were being too quiet and I was trying to get them to sing.

Did you really make the cake on the cover of The Rolling Stonesâ Let It Bleed album?

Yes. I was a jobbing food stylist and a photographer phoned me to say he wanted a gaudy-looking cake. I got to the studio and, halfway through the shoot, Keith Richards arrived to have a look at it. He didnât speak to me at all. I was just the little serving girl in the corner. Someone who knew Mick Jagger got him to sign my copy of the album, which I was thrilled with as Iâve always been a huge Stones fan.

Have you got any celebrity fans?

I was queuing to get my coat after an awards show when Sir David Attenborough tapped me on the shoulder and said he loved my books.